CommitFest Checklist and Timeline

This page contains a list of things to do and when to do them for the CommitFest Manager. It's based on the current CommitFest app (written by Robert Haas), and will change once the new CF App is done.

Three to Four Weeks before CF

Hopefully you will know at least this far out that you are going to be CommitFest Manager (CFM). If so, do the following things:

announce to pgsql-hackers that you are the next CFM and when the CF will be beginning

attempt to recruit an Assistant CFM from -hackers and other places

begin saving all pgsql-hackers email in your local mail store for searching, if you don't do this regularly

check that you have administrative permissions on the CF. If not, request permissions fix from pgsql-www.

5 to 7 days before CF

Post a reminder to pgsql-hackers (and your blog?) that the CF is beginning on the date, and that they should get their patches registered/submitted.

Do a patch sweep (see below).

Go over the pending patches and assign them categories or change their categories if they're wrong.

Recruit people to pgsql-rrreviewers to be assigned random patches (see below).

Post to pgsql-rrreviewers and ask who will be available for the upcoming CF

Check each and every patch in the CF, and find/update:

patches which already received some review prior to the CF, and make sure this review is linked in the comments on the patch.

patches which have been already committed/rejected/returned before the CF, and update their status accordingly

Patch Sweep: search the pgsql-hackers archives from the prior 2 months for messages with the attachment "patch". Make sure that all patches submitted to -hackers are in the CommitFest (or in the prior CommitFest). If they are not, email the patch author asking if they want to submit their patch to the CF (see template below). New contributors should probably be added to the CF even if they are slow to respond, but veteran contributors should not be.

pgsql-rrreviewers: This mailing list includes the "Round Robin Reviewers" (RRR) who are regular contributors who want to help with reviewing patches, but aren't sure what they want to review. As CFM, you will be assigning patches to review to the RRR to keep them busy.

2 days before CF

Send reminder to -hackers that the CF is beginning in 2 days.

First day of CF

change CommitFest status from "Open" to "In Progress"

change status of next CommitFest, if necessary

Announce that the CF has begun on -hackers and that any new patches will need to be put on the next commitfest.

Assign patches to review to all RRR

Send a reminder to all patch submitters that they have a patch in the commitfest, and that they will be expected to review at least one patch by someone else.

If anyone signed up to review a patch more than 4 days before the start of the CF, send them a reminder that they're reviewing a patch.

5 days after the beginning of the CF

Check all assigned reviewers. If the reviewer was assigned before the beginning of the CF, and they haven't posted anything, take them off the patch and send them a nice note (see below).

Make a list of all patch submitters who have not volunteered to review someone else's patch. Send each one a private note reminding them that they need to do that (see template).

Check "waiting on author" patches per "Every 5-7 days" below.

10 days after the beginning of the CF

Each 5 to 7 days of the CF

Check patches marked "waiting on author". If they've been waiting for more than 5 days, and there's been no status update, do the following:

if you're clearly waiting on a new patch update, then just mark them "Returned with Feedback".

if they're waiting on discussion on -hackers, and the discussion has died out, ask for a status update on the list.

Check patches that are marked "waiting for review" and have a review assigned.

If there's been a review, make sure it's logged. Add the review as a comment if it hasn't been.

If the review says it's "ready for committer", change it to that status.

If there's ongoing discussion, or if the review found stuff to fix, mark the patch as "waiting on author" and add a comment.

If there hasn't been any review activity/discussion by the reviewer for 5 days or more (since the beginning of the CF), send the reviewer a reminder and take their name off the patch.

Constantly During CF

Monitor the CF app Activity Log page.

Watch for unpaired log entries which may indicate a patch or review without an associated status change. Update the status where appropriate.

5 to 7 days before end of CF

Send an email to reviewers of any open patch that hasn't had recent discussion, reminding them CF is almost over and asking if they're doing ok or could use some help.

Last day of CF

Set all open patches with at least one review to "Returned with Feedback" and send the appropriate email.

For any open patches without a review:

Clear the reviewer and assign a new one from rrr if it's been more than five days since they were assigned.

After CF

Close CF in app

Make the next CF current

Send reminder email to authors with patches that were Returned with Feedback reminding them to add their patch to the next CF if they plan to continue working on it.

Send "thank you" email to reviewers, reminding them they are more than welcome review in the next CF even if they haven't submitted a patch.

Have a beer or three - you've earned it. :-)

Email Templates

Patch Sweep

For new contributors:

[contributor name]:

You sent in your patch, [name of patch file] to pgsql-hackers on [date posted].
You may not be aware, but in order for your patch to be included in PostgreSQL,
it needs to be part of the next CommitFest. Accordingly, I have added your
patch to the list here [link to CF entry]. If you want to withdraw your patch,
or if you simply won't be around to answer questions during the 30 days of
this CommitFest, please let me know and I'll remove it. Thanks!

For experienced contributors:

[contributor name]:

You sent in your patch, [name of patch file] to pgsql-hackers on [date posted],
but you did not post it to the next CommitFest [link to CF page]. If this was
intentional, then you need take no action. However, if you want your patch to
be reviewed as part of the upcoming CommitFest, then you need to add it yourself
before [start date]. Thanks for your contributions.

Patch Reminder

[contributor name]:

As a reminder, you have the following patches in the current CommitFest:

[list of links to their patches]

If you are not prepared to follow up on review to these patches during this
CommitFest, please let me know and I will remove them now. I also remind
you that each patch submitter is expected to review at least one patch from
another submitter during the CommitFest, so please pick someone else's
patch to review as soon as you can.

Thanks for your contributions to PostgreSQL!

Reviewer Clear

[reviewer name]:

Since you haven't had time to write a review of [patch] in the last 5 days,
we've taken your name off the reviewer list for this patch. Of course, you
are still very welcome to review it if you can find time. We're just removing
your name so that other reviewers know the patch still needs attention.
We understand that day jobs and other things get in the way of doing patch review
when you want to, so please come back and review a patch or two later
when you have more time.

Thanks!

Returned with Feedback

[author name]:

[patch], which you submitted to this CommitFest, has been awaiting your attention
for more than five days. As such, we have moved it to "Returned with Feedback"
and removed it from the reviewing queue. Depending on timing, this may be reversable,
so let us know if there are extenuating circumstances. In any case, you are welcome
to address the feedback you have received, and resubmit the patch to the next CommitFest.